Situation:

• Starting on September 2nd, the Trump Administration has supported repeated airstrikes on “drug-smuggling boats” in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, framing these attacks as a counternarcotic initiative 
• An estimated 66 people have died so far in these airstrikes
• The actual existence of drugs on any of these boats has not been verified and it is unclear what drugs the administration thinks are being trafficked
• The Trump administration designated the alleged drug traffickers as people related to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), although it is unclear if these groups meet any of the FTO requirements

Response:

• A former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor told BBC that the airstrikes would be interpreted as a deliberate attack against citizens during peacetime at the ICC (but the US hasn’t accepted ICC jurisdiction so its decisions don’t really apply)
• The former chief prosecutor also said that even if these people are really smuggling drugs, they are criminal civilians but civilians nonetheless
• Many wonder why the administration didn’t use another approach (like search or incarceration of suspects) to address drug trafficking suspicions 
• A former legal advisor from the US Department of State said that designating these boats as vessels related to “terrorist organizations”/FTOs is not an excuse to use unjustified military force

Future

• POSSIBILITY FOR ESCALATION
• The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group has recently been deployed and will reach the Caribbean soon
• Many wonder if the administration is planning landstrikes due to the increased US military occupation of the region

UPDATES

• More than 20 strikes since September and over 80 people killed
• Trump declared the Venezuelan airspace “officially closed”, isolating Venezuelans by disrupting travel and raising questions about the president’s ability to declare another country’s airspace “closed” 
• The Venezuelan president claims that Trump’s actions may be an attempt to oust him and his government
• Many members of Congress such as Marjorie Taylor Greene feel that Trump’s actions are reckless and unconstitutional, stating that only Congress has the power to declare war
• “The US has deployed the world’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and about 15,000 troops to within striking distance of Venezuela.” ← all in the name of “combating drug trafficking”